My scale is more like an obsession and I can never leave the damn thing alone. I used to hide it under the bed but then I'd just have to furtively run with it to the bathroom floor (which is the only one without carpet) while my hubby was busy and weigh, then quickly run back, not because he has an issue with me weighing but because I am always secretive about it. Anyway now it lives by the sink and regularly calls to me to have a look at the numbers. I hover between sinking into the deepest darkest depression because I have put on and being so turned on the next step is *cough* going back to bed. Worst still losing is like a triumph and a personal disaster all in one go - me, weight conflicted? Never

I've had these feelings before and find them problematic. It's why I only weigh myself maybe once per week. Scale and number obsession sucks and doesn't really do anything, IMO, but cause anxiety. Ultimately, to me, the numbers are only just so important. The thing that is the best indicator is that I know I am able to lose weight; I just have to do what I need to do in order to have a result. It's the doing and being consistent that is the hard part. Weight and number obsession is counter-productive, IMO, and for me causes feelings that only make me feel bad about myself. That never helps anything.

__________________"I'm really tired of a fat woman's sexuality being just another fat joke." -- Felicia/Supero

"It's my belief that these sheep are laborin' under the misapprehension that they're birds. Observe their be'avior. Take for a start the sheeps' tendency to 'op about the field on their back legs. Now witness their attmpts to fly from tree to tree. Notice that they do not so much fly as... plummet." -- Monty Python's Flying Circus

Personally, I don't like to weigh myself. Like other posters have mentioned, it can be an extremely addictive and unhealthy obsession. For me, it was. As a child, I was bullied by my sisters to weigh myself in front of them, and was ridiculed- severely. Because of my childhood experiences, I became obsessed with my appearance and the number on the scale as a teenager. If I weighed over 120 pounds, I was fat. Then, when I developed anorexic habits, I would say if I was over 110 lbs, I was fat. But what made me decide THOSE numbers? Looking back, when I weighed 110 lbs or less, I looked disgusting. I was pale and sickly looking. My obsession with the scale was so intense I would weigh myself when I woke up, after using the bathroom, after eating, before bed etc.. I would fluctuate a few pounds here and there. I would use diuretics then weigh myself. It was an extremely unhealthy obsession, and I am glad to say that scales are no longer welcome in my life.

Here are the things I'm wondering: Do you own a scale? Why or why not? How's that working out for you?

Yeah, I do own a scale. I will get on it once in awhile for the same reasons as the OP...to check where I am for health reasons, but I'd like to get to the point where I depend on it rarely. I've had a lot of control and obsession issues with the scale over the years. The scale used to be something that could make or break my day and turn my mood upside down, in and out and all around town. It totally ruled what I felt my self worth would be on a particular day. Definitely do not want to go back to that head space.

I still get twinges of that kind of thinking now and then as it never completely goes away, but I've come a long way.

I am sure there was a point where scales weren't needed at all in our society, well at least in this regard as empiricism, science and the like have been around for quite some time in many cultures.

People were so tuned in with their bodies and how they felt, that they had a highly intuitive understanding of where they were "supposed" to be weight wise FOR THEM. Being fit and fat is very much a reality and I hope, more and more, that the awareness of this factual reality expands. So many people consider fit and fat to be an oxymoron.

Another thing is the scale ruined me earlier on because I've always been someone who weighs A LOT...way more than what I look like. Most people are surprised if they find out my true weight, so when I was much younger and more impressionable, that caused me to feel like a freak among all the other girls who were these dainty and predictable weights. I always wondered, "Why do I weigh so damn much?"

Let's not talk about the BMI chart. That chart so doesn't apply to me and where I should or need to be in weight for my particular body type and to be healthy. I've come to accept that and am fine with it.

These days I like to go by how my body feels and what the fit of my clothes convey, more often than what the scale says, although I do check infrequently. If I can't function on a basic level and do the things I need to do day to day and my body feels worn, battered and beat down by weight, then I know I need to lose some weight for health until those issues are no longer a problem. But I no longer strive to be thin or petite just for the sake of it. Just healthy in mind, body and spirit.

i had a hard time reading some of these posts. i am sorry to see that the number some little box tells you inspires such thoughts in you girls.

you need to keep it in perspective. weight is variable. it goes up and down. it is meant to. how you feel should be a much better gauge than some little number. weight is also subjective...what is small to me may be big to you. just keep it in your heads.

you don't need a scale to judge yourself girls. if you think you are unhappy as you are and feel like you want to lose a little, go for it. you will know if it is working, even without the little box. i do agree changes in your body are a much better gauge than the scale.

life it too short to worry about a scale my darlings. live your life and your body will find it's natural balance.

No, I don't own one and never will. I hate weighing scales - they remind me of all the awful, numbing, humiliating doctors' visits I had to endure when I was younger. I'll never forget being 15 and standing on one while this bitch of a female doctor walked around me, nudging at my stomach, telling me how I didn't have a hope of finding any kind of happiness if i didn't lose 40kilos tomorrow. She kept saying to me: "Do you want to be one of those women we have to weigh with the scales they use in the zoo or the train station? Like an animal thats too fat to fit on something meant for normal people?" That memory still brings tears to my eyes so no, I don't own one. I keep an eye on my weight by measuring myself. If the centimetres are creeping up I'll step on my sister's to see whats potting but otherwise - no fucking way.

Hearing that makes me want to punch that doctor in the face. I totally understand I had to be taken down to a loading dock and weight one time. I weighed 304 lbs. I was 18. When you're young these sorts of humiliations are so much more painful I think.

I do not own a scale. For me, over the years I have learnt that what I weigh is not a good measure of how well I am looking after myself. I went through a stage in my very early 20's where I lost a lot of weight by not eating. My entire sense of self hinged upon seeing the number go down. I was really unhealthy then.

A couple of years ago I joined a gym and I noticed over the year that my old obsession with numbers was creeping up on me. I started to weigh myself every time I went in there.

Now, sometimes I will ask my doctor if I can check my weight when I go to see her. She is the one who gets happy when the number is lower. I try to focus on eating superb food and moving my body a bit so it feels good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcbeth

Here are the things I'm wondering: Do you own a scale? Why or why not? How's that working out for you?

*This Question is for my fellow BBW/SSBBW. While I realize women and men of all sizes can have complicated relationships with weight/scale, I am posting this in the BBW forum because I want to talk about this issue particularly from a BBW/SSBBW perspective.*

I can only speak for myself but for years I feared the scale. After every mandatory weigh-in at school (results announced by nurse to class), I was a big fat target for weeks. After many years I realized that it was not my enemy. It stated a fact and did so without judgment.

So I use it. I'd like to be smaller than I am now for comfort and health, but by no means thin. I don't actively diet but rather watch what I eat and use the scale as a tool. When I reclaimed it, it lost its effectiveness as a weapon.